Beijing 2022 - From a back garden to the Olympics - how DIY helped Mica McNeill and Montell Douglas reach the Games

Updated 29/01/2022 at 16:02 GMT

Unsure about how coronavirus restrictions were going to affect their preparations for the Olympics, Mica McNeill’s dad and brother built a push track in a back garden in County Durham so that the British women could practice at home. McNeill and Douglas were able to continue their training - and now they are preparing for the Games in Beijing. Follow every moment on discovery+.

Mica McNeill built a push track in a back garden to train for the Winter Olympics

Image credit: Getty Images

Every athlete has adapted to training during the coronavirus pandemic in different ways - but you can bet there is only one who built a bobsleigh push track in a County Durham back garden.

That is exactly what Mica McNeill’s dad and brother did for her - and now she is preparing for the Winter Olympics with Montell Douglas in the two-woman bobsleigh.

With training already derailed by initial lockdowns at the start of the pandemic, McNeill took matters into her own hands and once the track was built, she invited the entire women’s squad to her home.

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The track is 30 metres long and has a bobsleigh attached to it which has wheels, instead of runners, with a bungee at the end which pulls the sled back.

“The idea came during the first lockdown and we thought, we've got no idea what's going to happen in the future but we need to be able to train for the Olympic Games, and we need to be able to push,” McNeill told Eurosport.

"We couldn't travel abroad to any push tracks. The facilities in Bath were closed. My dad and brother built it for me.

“It's brilliant. The girls have been up all summer, we've been pushing on them and having training camps and I just think it's been a huge help coming into this season.

“We knew we couldn't come into a winter without pushing, an off season is eight months long. If you're not behind the bobsled for eight months, you're not doing your trade. So we knew it was very important to do this.”

McNeill and Douglas have reaped the rewards of the track and go into the Olympics on the back of a second placed finish at a World Cup event in Sigulda earlier this month.

“It was incredible, just being around as a team, with the whole squad together on a regular basis,” said Douglas, who believes the DIY installation has been huge to their recent success.

"The cohesion, the camaraderie, it's super important, but also for the performance aspect because we need to get behind the bobsled as much as possible.

“We aren't a winter sports nation and we're always at a disadvantage, but if we can bridge the gap, which we did using this, that means that we actually put ourselves in the best position possible.”

Douglas is in a unique position as the first British woman to be selected for both a winter and summer Olympics, having also gone to Beijing in 2008 as a sprinter. She says it is an honour to make history, and believes it could be a fruitful Games.

“You want realistic targets and you want to put yourself in a position where you're proud of your performance, so you can actually embrace what you do,” she said.

“It's a two day event, it's about consistency, it's about keeping calm and we've been there and done it, but now it's about putting it together. A podium finish would be insane.”

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